Today, WinSystems' introduced the first Pico-I/O module designed for expansion on Pico-ITXe SBCs. The PCO-UIO48-G is a 48-point digital I/O interface with interruptible event sense. An important feature of the card is that it can monitor 24 of the rising and falling digital edge transitions, latch them, and then signal the host processor that a change of input status has occurred. This is the most efficient way of sensing and signaling a CPU of real-time events without the burden of continuous polling of the digital I/O points. Pico-I/O modules are designed to offer low cost, I/O expansion for Pico-ITXe single board computers from VIA and other manufacturers.

Jerry Winfield, President of WinSystems, stated that, "This is the first of a family of Pico-I/O modules from WinSystems. Their small size, flexibility, and stackability coupled with WinSystems' design expertise and industrial manufacturing standards, make them well-suited for a variety of rugged, embedded applications."

"WinSystems' Pico-I/O board is a natural complement to our new VIA EPIA-710 Pico-ITXe single board computer announced today at ESC/Boston," said Alp Sezen, Director of Sales, VIA Technologies, Inc. "By providing designers with the flexibility to add more interface capability to match their exact system I/O requirements in a small and economical way, Pico-I/O modules like WinSystems' PCO-UIO48-G will help to speed industry adoption of this new platform standard."

The PCO-UIO48-G's I/O controller is based upon a Lattice FPGA programmed to support various input/output and interrupt configurations. Each I/O line is programmable for input, output, or output with read-back operation. Each line's transition is latched so that even short duration pulses will be recognized.

The module requires only +3.3 volts; however, an optional onboard regulator is available to allow it to be powered from +5VDC. Operational temperature range is from -40°C to +85°C.

A Pico-I/O module is small and measures only 60mm x 72mm which is half the area of a PC/104 module. Pico-I/O is based upon the SUMITTM (Stackable Unified Module Interconnect Technology ) connector that was developed and standardized by the Small Form Factor Special Interest Group (SFF-SIG: www.sff-sig.org) last year. SUMIT is an electromechanical connectorization specification that enables stacking of common serial and legacy chipset expansion buses on I/O modules for next generation embedded systems products.